The physical body is the grave of the non-spiritual person.

 

108. The physical body is the grave. The physical body of man is considered dead and in the grave when the spirit of God hasn’t animated the soul of the body: In the Bahá’í Writings the grave, or being dead, is often referred to as being trapped in the physical body without the enlightenment of God’s holy manifestation (holy messenger) lighting our way out of the darkness of this material world. BAHA’I FAITH: “They have strayed far from the retreats of nearness, have been deprived of the living waters of reunion and the wellspring of His grace, and have lain as dead within the shrouds of their own selves.” (Baha’u’llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 6) Though the physical body of man may be walking around and breathing God considers man to be quite dead and in the grave of the material body because the spirit of life is not found in the man who is not enlightened by the word of God’s holy manifestation.  CHRISTIANITY: Matthew: 8:22 “But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” BAHA’I FAITH: “His Holiness Jesus Christ declared, ‘Let the dead bury their dead.’ He also said, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.’ It is evident therefore according to His Holiness that the human spirit which is not fortified by the presence of the Holy Spirit is dead and in need of resurrection by that divine power;”

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 241)

BAHA’I FAITH: “For he who had believed in God and in the Manifestation of His beauty was raised from the grave of heedlessness, gathered together in the sacred ground of the heart, quickened to the life of faith and certitude, and admitted into the paradise of the divine presence.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries)

This spiritual usage of terms that denote being symbolically in the grave or being symbolically dead when the soul of man is not fortified by God’s holy word is also found in the writings of The Holy Bible and the other religions.  JUDAISM: Psalms: 30:3 “O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive,” David tells us that God brought up his soul out of the grave of the physical body and raised him up to the living form of the spiritual self or the spiritual body. Paul, in Corinthians, confirms that there is a spiritual body as well as a physical body.  CHRISTIANITY: 1 Corinthians: 15:44 “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” 1 Corinthians: 15:40 “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” So, when the light of the All Glorious is not to be found in the terrestrial body the spiritual or the celestial body is considered dead by The Creator of all things, because it has no share in the life giving waters that flows from the teachings of God’s holy words.

BAHA’I FAITH: “It hath raised the dead from the graves of the body through the breath of life.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Compilations, Baha’i Scriptures)

 JUDAISM: Psalms: 31:17 “Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.” The wicked are already in the grave as far as God is concerned. They are spiritually dead to God. Proverbs: 21:16 “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” You have to seek with understanding in your heart. If one just tries to mouth the words of God’s holy ones, without trying to understand their inner significance, the spirit of life is not realized in them.  CHRISTIANITY: John: 5:25 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” Matthew: 23:27 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matthew: 23:28 “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Luke: 15:32 “For this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” Ephesians: 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,” 2:5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved;” 2:6 “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places.” 1 Peter: 4:6 “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” 1 Timothy: 5:6 “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” Here, Paul plainly states it. Those people that live for the pleasures of this life are considered dead by God even though they are living and breathing. Luke: 15:24 “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

BAHA’I FAITH: “In the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and in the Holy Books of other religions, the word ‘dead’ is often used to refer to those devoid of faith and spiritual life.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha’u’llah v 3, p. 217)

 BABI RELIGION: “I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy most effulgent splendour, before whose brightness every soul humbly boweth down and prostrateth itself in adoration for Thy sake — a splendour before whose radiance fire is turned into light, the dead are brought to life and every difficulty is changed into ease.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 179)

 ISLAM: 52. “Verily thou canst not make the dead to hear, nor canst thou make the deaf to hear the call, when they show their backs and turn away.” 53. “Nor canst thou lead back the blind from their straying: only those wilt thou make to hear, who believe in Our Signs and submit their wills in Islam.” 19. “It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living, and Who gives life to the earth after it is dead: and thus shall ye be brought out from the dead.” 50. “Then contemplate (O man!) the memorials of Allah’s (God‘s) Mercy! — how He gives life to the earth after its death: verily the Same will give life to the men who are dead: for He has power over all things.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah  30)

 22. “Nor are alike those that are living and those that are dead. Allah can make any that He wills to hear; but thou canst not make those to hear who are (buried) in graves.” 12. “Verily We shall give life to the dead,”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 35 and 36)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: Denkard. Zoroaster, 3:36. “Be it known that, the souls of worshippers of daevas and of deceitful Ashmoghs, owing to their impure nature, although (located) in a living body, are, according to the religion, (as if) possessing a dead body;”

 HINDUISM: “The end of birth is death; the end of death Is birth: this is ordained!”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 2)

 “When with Your power and might Ye aid the pious he comes through death to life by Your assistance.”

(Hindu, Vedas, Rig Veda – Book 7)

 BUDDHISM: 2. “Awareness is the path of immortality; thoughtlessness is the path of death. Those who are aware do not die. The thoughtless are as if dead already.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

 2. “Heedfulness is the way to the Deathless, Heedlessness is the way to death. The heedful do not die, The heedless are like unto the dead.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 3 (tr. J. Richards))

 SABEANISM: “Deliver me from the hands of the wicked, and loosen my feet from the bonds of death.” “Hibil raiseth up living souls in the Jordan, those worthy of the great Place of Light and of the Everlasting Abode. By it they will be established and raised up in the House of the Mighty Life. It will raise these souls who go down to the Jordan and are baptised: they will behold the Great Place of Light and the Everlasting Abode.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 14 and 410)

 “He sundered Light from darkness and sundered Good from Evil, He sundered Life from Death, And He brought out those who love His name of Truth From Darkness to Light and from Evil to Good And from Death to Life and set them On roads of Truth and Faith.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 75)

 BABI RELIGION: “Say, the power of God is in the hearts of those who believe in the unity of God and bear witness that no God is there but Him, while the hearts of them that associate partners with God are impotent, devoid of life on this earth, for assuredly they are dead.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 153)

 “True resurrection from the sepulchers means to be quickened in conformity with His Will, through the power of His utterance.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 158)

 “The tomb mentioned is also allegorical, i.e. the tomb of unbelief.”

(Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day, p. 79)

BAHA’I FAITH: “It is my hope that out of the bestowals of The Lord of Hosts ye will become the spiritual essence and the very radiance of humankind, binding the hearts of all with bonds of love; that through the power of the Word of God ye will bring to life the dead now buried in the graves of their sensual desires; that ye will, with the rays of the Sun of Truth, restore the sight of those whose inner eye is blind; that ye will bring spiritual healing to the spiritually sick.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 36)

“By My life, ye are in the graves, were ye of those who perceive! Verily, he who doth not move by the Breath of God, in His Day, is indeed dead before God, the King of Names and Attributes. Arise from the graves of your lusts and advance to the Kingdom of your Lord,”

(Bahá’í Faith, Compilations, Baha’i Scriptures, p. 97)